I found out two weeks ago that the school I work for is closing and I will be laid off. I wasn’t shocked to hear this news. Our numbers have been low for a while and it was the unspoken word that lingered in the air for months.
I was out on maternity leave for first term so I was surprised when I came back to work to find two directors; my old director and a new director co-directing. This was my first inkling that something was wrong. Why do we need two directors? It became more interesting when a paper was casually passed around that we acknowledged that lay-offs may happen if we do not get more students enrolled. Then in December the first round of lay-offs began. The old administration, the leadership of the program was laid off. This was not good. I’ve seen this before in large companies; hire a hatchet lady to clean out the old and in with the new. It’s a scare tactic and it works. Once the foundation that the program was built on had been removed, people started to feel the instability and started finding new jobs and resigned.
Not me. like I said, I’ve seen this before and was willing to wait out the storm. Unfortunately the companies plan to start fresh didn’t work out as they planned and the school is closing. So here I am, last man standing near the end of the school year with no job in less than two months.
So what am I doing?
I don’t know.
The safest, most obvious thing for me to do is to continue teaching somewhere else. Monday-Friday, school vacations and the summers off. Great perks! But is teaching my passion? I don’t know. I would describe it as comfortable. I feel that I have always played it safe, nothing too strenuous with fixed hours and benefits. Am I satisfied with comfortable? I’m 35 years old and I’m debating on a career change. What career? I don’t know. I want to take a risk into the unknown. Become a writer, start a business, get into sales. I think most importantly I want to become my own boss. Have you ever had dreams that you were too scared to follow for fear of the unknown? Well, that’s where I’m at.